Districts happier with math this year

Updated 1:19 pm, Thursday, August 8, 2013

Most local school districts are planning raises or hiring more teachers for the coming school year, fueled by a state budget that restored $4 billion of the $5.4 billion in education cuts the Legislature made two years ago.

Several district officials and teacher groups say lawmakers should have restored the entire amount — and even increased it, to keep up with enrollment growth and federal budget cuts tied to sequestration.

But the projected increases in state funding already have had a tangible effect.

Bexar County districts estimate that they will have at least $82 million more to work with in the next fiscal year, a San Antonio Express-News survey found.

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Most have decided to spend the bulk of it on pay raises and hiring.

“The intention all along was to develop a plan that mostly put classroom teachers back,” Northside Independent School District Superintendent Brian Woods said. “That was the thing that two years ago was absolutely gut-wrenching for us to cut back on because we knew that it was likely to impact our kids' education.

“We're excited to hire mostly classroom teachers, excited to hire folks. It's not a fix to the school funding problem,” Woods added.

Two years ago, an Express-News analysis showed school districts here moved to eliminate 2,459 jobs, or 5.4 percent, of the public school workforce in Bexar County. The impact, superintendents said, produced more crowded classrooms even as state standardized tests became tougher.

The year before the 2011 cuts, only two local districts asked for state waivers to allow a total of 15 classes to exceed size limits.

In 2012, with the cuts in full effect, an Express-News analysis showed 11 districts asked for waivers for a record total of 1,119 classes in Bexar County.

Northside, the city's largest, with nearly 100,000 students and a $1 billion budget, will add 777 new positions for the 2013-2014 school year, thanks in part to getting back $33 million from the state that had been cut, on top of state funding expected for growth.

The district said the restored funding alone allows the district to fill 439 positions, including 361 teachers.

Northside's board last year authorized asking for nearly 650 class size waivers, reeling from a two-year reduction in state funding that resulted in 1,000 positions cut.

Other districts, including Alamo Heights, Somerset, Southwest, Southside and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City, identified the restored state funding as at least part of the reason they plan to hire. It's still a challenge, especially for those such as Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City that continue to grow rapidly.

“I'm certainly appreciative with the amount that was able to go a long way and restore programs that were reduced, ” said Greg Gibson, the district's superintendent. “My mother taught me to be happy with what you got, and that's what I'm gonna do.”

All local districts, with the exception of South San Antonio, said they have already approved or expect to approve salary increases. Raises have ranged from 1 percent to 8.5 percent, depending on the position.

The city's three military districts — Fort Sam Houston, Lackland and Randolph Field — said the restored state funding will immediately help patch holes caused by the federal budget sequestration. The majority of their funding comes from the U.S. government.

Other districts, choosing between hiring and raises, have opted to give financial incentives to their veteran staff and have them continue to shoulder more responsibilities.

Edgewood ISD plans to use most of the $3.5 million it is getting back from the state to buy new technology for classrooms and to fix up schools.